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Syrians Protest Fuel Price Hikes

Demonstrators block a road with flaming tires while protesting hikes to fuel prices in al-Bab, northeast of Aleppo in northern Syria, on September 14, 2026. (AFP)
Demonstrators block a road with flaming tires while protesting hikes to fuel prices in al-Bab, northeast of Aleppo in northern Syria, on September 14, 2026. (AFP)
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Syrians Protest Fuel Price Hikes

Demonstrators block a road with flaming tires while protesting hikes to fuel prices in al-Bab, northeast of Aleppo in northern Syria, on September 14, 2026. (AFP)
Demonstrators block a road with flaming tires while protesting hikes to fuel prices in al-Bab, northeast of Aleppo in northern Syria, on September 14, 2026. (AFP)

Syrians on Monday held demonstrations in various parts of the country for the second consecutive day over the government's decision to increase fuel prices due to the Middle East war.

They mark the first such protest since the authorities seized power after ousting in December 2024 longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, under whom demonstrations were strictly prohibited.

An AFP correspondent saw protesters gather in the city of Maarat al-Numan in the northwestern province of Idlib, briefly cutting off the main road with burning tires.

"We want them to bring fuel prices back to their previous level. Winter is coming, how are the poor going to live and keep warm?" said taxi driver Fateh Hamsho, 67.

Other protests took place in Hasakeh in the northeast, in Atarib and Azaz in the north and in Khan Sheikhoun in the west, according to AFP correspondents.

Syrian authorities on Sunday announced a hike on fuel prices amid global surges due to the Middle East war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February and quickly engulfed other countries in the region.

The war has seen oil infrastructure damaged in Gulf countries, with key waterways choking imports.

The price of diesel in Syria went from 125 Syrian pounds ($1) per liter to 175, a 40 percent increase, while petrol prices saw a 26 percent increase.

The UN said 90 percent of Syrians lived below the poverty line by the end of 2024, with the minimum wage in the country standing at around 12,560 pounds ($103).

The Syrian parliament on Thursday will hold a hearing for Energy Minister Mohammad al-Bashir to explain the reasons behind the hike.

Protests were previously banned under Assad, whose violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrations against his rule in 2011 led to a 13-year civil war.

Speaking to state television, Abdul Hamid Salat, head of the energy ministry's media department, said on Sunday that the price hikes were "temporary" and linked to global markets and the Iran war.

He said Syria currently relies heavily on imports to meet its fuel needs, making these products more costly as prices rise on global markets.

Syria currently produces around 100,000 barrels of oil per day, well below domestic demand of between 300,000 and 325,000 barrels per day, Salat said.

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Arab World

First Algerian Troops Arrive in Niger Where Extremists Threaten Stability

Algeria, which shares a border with Niger, has traditionally regarded stability in ‌the Sahel-Sahara ‌as an important regional security ‌priority. (Getty Images)
Algeria, which shares a border with Niger, has traditionally regarded stability in ‌the Sahel-Sahara ‌as an important regional security ‌priority. (Getty Images)
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First Algerian Troops Arrive in Niger Where Extremists Threaten Stability

Algeria, which shares a border with Niger, has traditionally regarded stability in ‌the Sahel-Sahara ‌as an important regional security ‌priority. (Getty Images)
Algeria, which shares a border with Niger, has traditionally regarded stability in ‌the Sahel-Sahara ‌as an important regional security ‌priority. (Getty Images)

An Algerian army ‌convoy has arrived in Niger in Algeria's first foreign troop deployment since it sent forces to support Egypt during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

Niger, like other countries in West Africa's Sahel region, is battling insurgents linked to al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Algeria, which shares a border with Niger, has traditionally regarded stability in ‌the Sahel-Sahara ‌as an important regional security ‌priority.

⁠Energy is an ⁠important focus for Algeria in Niger, where Algerian state-run oil and gas firm Sonatrach has investments.

One major project, the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline with Niger and Nigeria, aims to deliver African gas to Europe ⁠and other international markets.

Reuters spoke ‌to 10 people ‌who said the first Algerian military convoy had ‌reached Arlit, a uranium mining town ‌in the country's northwest.

Algeria has said the decision to deploy troops was taken to protect the country's energy and economic interests, without disclosing ‌the size of the force or the timetable for their arrival.

Military ⁠officers ⁠have ruled Niger, which has uranium, oil and gold resources, since the July 2023 coup that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, which Algeria initially opposed.

Arab World

Houthis Suspected of Recruiting Children, Young Men Amid Surge in Disappearances in Sanaa

Human rights reports accuse the Houthis of recruiting more children. (Local media)
Human rights reports accuse the Houthis of recruiting more children. (Local media)
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Houthis Suspected of Recruiting Children, Young Men Amid Surge in Disappearances in Sanaa

Human rights reports accuse the Houthis of recruiting more children. (Local media)
Human rights reports accuse the Houthis of recruiting more children. (Local media)

Disappearances of children and young men have surged in Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa and its outskirts in recent weeks, fueling accusations that the Houthis are luring them into military camps, training them for combat and sending them to battlefronts without their families' knowledge or consent.

The cases have also raised fears among families of possible extortion, as authorities face accusations of failing to investigate the disappearances or disclose the fate of those missing.

Local human rights sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the unexplained disappearances have left residents increasingly alarmed, with children and young men vanishing from schools, streets and residential neighborhoods, sometimes without a trace.

Families have been left to search for their missing relatives on their own, turning to social media to appeal for information as Houthi-controlled security authorities ignore their reports, the sources said.

About 13 children and young men have disappeared from different parts of Sanaa since the start of October, the sources said. Most were aged between 15 and 23, and some were later found at Houthi military camps or on battlefronts after being lured into combat training without their families' knowledge or approval.

Hundreds of disappearances involving children and young men have been reported in Sanaa and other Houthi-controlled cities since the beginning of the year, the sources said. Some families remain in the dark about their missing relatives' whereabouts.

The sources accused Houthi security authorities of ignoring families' reports and appeals, compounding their distress and leaving those missing vulnerable to exploitation and recruitment.

The latest cases, reported over the past two days, involve Amjad Noman al-Sarouhi, 16, who vanished from the al-Ansi neighborhood in central Sanaa's Maeen district, and Mukhtar Abdullah Hassan al-Rifai, 22, who went missing near the Haziz market on the capital's outskirts.

Lured into military camps

Families' accounts have deepened fears that disappearances are being used to funnel children and young men into Houthi military camps, amid accusations that Houthi supervisors and recruitment brokers are exploiting their social and economic hardships to draw them into combat.

In one case, a family spent five days searching neighborhoods and hospitals for a minor who disappeared from Sanaa two months ago, only to learn from a Houthi supervisor that he was at a military camp north of the city.

A relative told Asharq Al-Awsat that the supervisor confirmed Houthi members had lured the boy into the camp and put him through combat training without his family's knowledge.

The relative described five days of fear and anguish as the family searched for the boy, worried he might have been harmed, before discovering he had been taken to a Houthi camp and subjected to military training without their consent.

For Mujeeb, a Sanaa resident and father of four, the disappearances have turned even routine outings into a source of fear.

"We live in constant fear for our children. We no longer feel at ease even when one of them steps out to run a simple errand," he said.

"We fear a Houthi member or supervisor could lure them away or exploit their needs and difficult living conditions, leaving us facing a situation we are powerless to change."

Mujeeb said families wanted their children kept safe and allowed to pursue their education and lead normal lives, free from recruitment and being sent to battlefronts.

Arab World

Houthis Expand Taiz Offensive Southward into Lahj

A fighter loyal to Yemen's legitimate government fires a turret from the back of a pickup truck at a position along the frontlines against the Houthis around Mount al-Midan in Yemen's western Taiz province on October 26, 2026. (AFP)
A fighter loyal to Yemen's legitimate government fires a turret from the back of a pickup truck at a position along the frontlines against the Houthis around Mount al-Midan in Yemen's western Taiz province on October 26, 2026. (AFP)
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Houthis Expand Taiz Offensive Southward into Lahj

A fighter loyal to Yemen's legitimate government fires a turret from the back of a pickup truck at a position along the frontlines against the Houthis around Mount al-Midan in Yemen's western Taiz province on October 26, 2026. (AFP)
A fighter loyal to Yemen's legitimate government fires a turret from the back of a pickup truck at a position along the frontlines against the Houthis around Mount al-Midan in Yemen's western Taiz province on October 26, 2026. (AFP)

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis launched a three-pronged offensive in northern Lahj province on Friday, seeking to push toward the Tur Al-Bahah district and gain fire control over strategic routes linking Lahj and Taiz.

The escalation came as Yemen's armed forces held their ground on the southern and western fronts around Taiz city and stepped up air and ground strikes against Houthi positions there, along the western coast and in the eastern provinces of Al-Jawf and Marib.

Government forces also raised concerns over reports that the Houthis had fired shells suspected of containing toxic substances, causing choking and fainting among civilians and fighters.

The armed forces said they had carried out 1,087 successful strikes under Operation Dawn of Yemen, deploying fighter jets, drones, artillery and rocket launchers. The military said the strikes had neutralized about 336 Houthi commanders and fighters and destroyed or disabled 112 military vehicles, pieces of equipment, supply assets and heavy weapons.

Local sources reported fierce fighting in Lahj's Al-Maqatirah district after the Houthis attacked from three directions in a bid to seize the district and open a route toward Tur Al-Bahah.

Al-Maqatirah's strategic importance lies in its commanding position over key roads and areas stretching across southern Taiz and northern Lahj.

The assault coincided with sporadic clashes along the Taiz-Lahj administrative boundary, particularly on the Al-Mudaribah front, amid reports of fresh Houthi reinforcements. Field sources said the group had also deployed additional forces to Al-Shamayatayn district in southern Taiz.

In Taiz, government troops clashed with Houthi fighters in Al-Shaqab, southeast of the city, as government drones struck Houthi positions and troop concentrations. Sporadic clashes also erupted on the city's western fronts before dawn.

Further west, government artillery struck a Houthi gathering at the Khalid bin Al-Walid area in Al-Dhabab. Field reports indicated casualties among fighters stationed there.

On the western coast, airstrikes hit Al-Amoud Al-Sughra in Mokha district before dawn, targeting Houthi positions and military movements along the coastline.

The air campaign also reached Al-Jawf and Marib, with two strikes targeting Huwayshan in Al-Jawf and another hitting Mahliyah district in Marib.

Toxic shells raise alarm

Yemen's armed forces said they were treating with utmost seriousness reports that Houthi fighters had used shells suspected of containing toxic substances on the Taiz fronts, amid accounts of civilians and Popular Resistance fighters suffering choking and fainting.

Colonel Majed Al-Nuzaili, the armed forces' official spokesperson, called for an urgent investigation to identify the suspected substances, document their effects and trace their origins and suppliers.

In a statement, Al-Nuzaili said the incidents formed part of a continuing Houthi escalation against Taiz residents, including sniper attacks, indiscriminate shelling of residential areas, a siege, road closures and restrictions on access to water, food, medicine and life-saving supplies.

The armed forces warned the Houthis against further attacks on civilians or the use of prohibited means of warfare.

They said protecting civilians and breaking the siege of Taiz remained core responsibilities of the state and its armed forces, pledging to take necessary measures in line with constitutional obligations and international humanitarian law.

The statement urged the United Nations and relevant international bodies to help deter violations, support an urgent investigation into the suspected toxic shells and press for roads to reopen to allow humanitarian aid and essential supplies to reach civilians unhindered.

The military also vowed that those behind attacks on civilians, including the commanders responsible, would face accountability and punishment.